Charles Sahm of the Manhattan Institute professes great appreciation for the value of civics education to our “battered democracy” (New York Post, “Make Students Pass Citizenship Test} – 9/17). However, he needs schooling on a key point.

Charter schools are not public schools as Mr. Sahm has stated. They are publicly financed and privately managed institutions.

Real public schools are the bedrock of democracy in the United States. It was decided in the early republic that public education was too important to the future of the nation to be turned over to a network of private academies.

Sahm, who advocates administering a citizenship test to all high school students, deserves an F.